Actelion To Lose $80M After Arbitration Ruling

Law360, New York (December 22, 2009, 3:33 PM EST) -- Europe’s largest biotechnology company, Actelion Ltd., announced Tuesday that it will lose $80 million in operating profits after a California arbitration panel ordered a subsidiary to pay damages to Japan's Asahi Kasei Pharma Corp. in a dispute over a drug licensing agreement.

CoTherix Inc., an Actelion subsidiary based in California, must pay Asahi Kasei $91 million plus interest after it backed out of a licensing agreement to develop a drug to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension right after Basel, Switzerland-based Actelion acquired the company.